GUESS WHAT I WROTE ABOUT A G A I N

THAT’S RIGHT

METROID

Tallon IV. Zebes. Both vastly different, and yet so similar. Former homes of Chozo that had left the world long ago, to rejoin the energy of universe as one whole, leaving only ruins and warnings behind. But those were the lucky ones, as she had encountered restless spirits trapped in this plane of existence, shredding the silence with their screams of agony and bloodlust. Like the Zebesian Chozo, the Tallonese Chozo had met a violent end, their world torn asunder by a blight from beyond the stars.

A blight that poisoned the earth, poisoned the water, poisoned the air, and turned the wildlife unnaturally vicious. And a blight that the Space Pirates were desperate to wield, letting it loose upon their bodies and their minds, like it held some key to beating the Galactic Federation and standing against the Kriken Empire.

Samus’ Power Suit reacted to the presence of that blight, that Phazon, with the crackle of an ancient Geiger counter. Radioactive, seeming to cackle when she kicked a rock into the pit of fluorescent blue tendrils that snaked up the wall, slowly but surely spreading its influence further into Tallon IV’s core.

It disgusted her.

She caught her reflection in a piece of broken glass, a specter clad in black, gray, and red. Not herself, not on the surface anyway. The poison wasn’t inside her, but it had consumed her Power Suit, changed it to be like it, to act as a shield and a source of power. She felt like a sheep pretending to be a wolf, hoping the pack didn’t notice the fangs were fake.

Another artifact, and another, but she still didn’t have enough to open the seal and reach the heart of the blight. She didn’t know what she’d find there, except that the Chozo of Tallon IV seemed to have believed she would destroy it and liberate them.

She wished she believed in herself the way these Chozo she’d never met believed in her. But such confidence was in short supply, as it always was.

“You’re uncharacteristically quiet,” Carter noted, as Samus’ boots splashed into the water as the stream rushed past her. “Might I ask why?”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” Samus answered, feeling the coolness of the water against her armour as if it actually splashed against her skin. The frigid air sent a shiver up her spine.

“You could talk about it, you know?” Carter offered, her digitized voice sounding as concerned as she could.

“No,” Samus heaved a sigh, feeling her feet sink into the ground. Great. Maybe it would swallow her up if she was unlucky. Her mind, infuriatingly, latched onto the Chozo’s hope; the Zebesians’ and the Tallonese’s. So much hope, all of it trained on one person. That was more than a single person could ever do. “I really can’t.”

Carter decided not to press further.

i really like hurting samus ok